“Huh?” she replied inanely, too overcome by what he had done to her to think clearly.
“There’s more, much, much more.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, and she tasted herself on his lips, more so on his tongue when it swept inside. Unsure how to react, in the next instant it didn’t matter because his knees were spreading her thighs, and he sank into her, his thick shaft gradually stretching and filling her. A pinch of pain lasted no more than a moment before pleasure returned.
Next, his head came up, and he gazed down at her, stroking her hair back from her face while embedded deep inside her. “How are you doing, beautiful?”
The newness of being joined with a man should have made conversation awkward, but she felt at ease with him as though she’d known him forever instead of a few days. Because of this, she answered the same way—freely.
“I’m good. Better than good, actually. I’m wonderful, in fact. I’ve never touched someone without feeling everything, yet with you I feel so much more, if that makes sense.”
His mouth curved up into a brilliant smile, but it didn’t compare to the fiery passion burning in his eyes. “It does. Our gifts can often be a burden, but sometimes, with the right person, we get a reprieve and end up feeling or seeing more than we ever thought possible.”
Tears burned in the back of her throat. “Yes, that’s it exactly.”
“I’m glad we see it the same way, but hang onto me, princess, we’re far from done. I’m about to turn good and wonderful into awesome and fucking incredible.”
Slowly he pumped his hips, easing out then gliding back in, stirring the sensations of moments ago. He was impossibly big, stretching her beyond what his finger could, and she welcomed the fullness. And while he moved faster, building the fiery hotness of desire in her once again, he held her gaze, ever watching.
Emotions she’d never felt before welled up inside her—her own, not his. She felt another release quickly building. A nagging thought in the back of her mind made her worry about being greedy, taking more when he had yet to find fulfillment. Although from the look on his face, his parted lips, breathing faster and a bit raggedly, and the strain around his glorious eyes as though holding back, he was exerting considerable effort to control both himself and the pace for her.
She wanted him to find as much pleasure as she had. Tightening her legs around his hips, she moved her hips to meet his while drawing him in at the same time. Her efforts roused her passion even more and another climax danced on the horizon, almost within reach.
He drove into her harder, moving deeper, his rhythm matching her rapid pulse rate, beat for beat. His cock seared into her, burning like a brand, and she met every thrust, her heels digging into his flexing backside making it possible.
“Darios, hurry,” she breathed, unwilling to leave him behind as the shimmer of bliss beckoned, but afraid she had no choice.
“Come, sweetness. I’m right there with you.”
That’s all she needed to give in to the pleasure. While she cried out, a groan rolled up from deep in his chest, and he joined her. Their bodies shuddered as they shared the power of a mutual release, and never once, in all that time, did he break the connection of his heated gaze locked with hers.
After, still breathing hard with a sheen of sweat on his darkly bronzed skin, he rolled off her, bringing her with him and tucking her into his side. She had her ear to his chest, listening to the thud of his heart as it slowed. Though her body was sated, her mind wouldn’t settle, and she couldn’t resist doing what she’d longed to since she first saw him. Raising her hand to his chest, she lightly traced his inked skin with her fingers.
“You were right,” she said a while later when she thought he slept.
“About what?” he replied in a soft husky tone.
She angled her head back, looking up at him in surprise. Now she had to answer, but she didn’t mind, smiling when she did. “It was incredible, although that word doesn’t do it justice.”
Darios grinned down at her, banked fire and fatigue in his eyes. He tightened his hold on her and slid her up his body for a last lingering kiss.
“You can tell me all about it, in detail, tomorrow. For now, since it’s almost dawn, we need to rest.”
She nodded, though went back to her tracing, but in the haze of the afterglow let her body relax into his. Molded to his side as close as two beings could be, and, relishing the weight of his strong arm wrapped around her, it didn’t take long for sleep to overtake her.
A KNOCK JARRED HIM awake. Careful not to disturb the warm, sweet-smelling, soundly sleeping woman beside him, he slipped from bed, crossed the room quietly in the dark, and stepped into the hallway.
“A visit from you this late can only mean trouble.”
Without preamble, Cogar gave him the bad news. “We’re receiving a distress signal from one of our supply ships.”
“What happened?”
He shook his head. “We don’t know. With the continued interference, the message was broken. We have tried, but cannot hail the Avius. I dispatched the Tauran with the Accordia following close behind.”
Their supply freighters were armed with tetryonic repulsor guns and secured by a quantum defense forcefield, but they were vulnerable during transfer of cargo and personnel. If they were crippled because of mechanical failure, they should be safe as long as their weapons systems were still online. If they were attacked during transfer, they undoubtedly had their hands full.
By sending the Tauran, a smaller reconnaissance ship, they’d have eyes on the vessel soon. The Accordia, a battlecruiser equipped with twenty manned fighter craft, was second only to the Atagan as the most heavily armed of their fleet. Because of its size, it lacked speed and would take longer to arrive. The Tauran had stealth and quickness, though fewer weapons in their arsenal. They could run interference and provide some fire power, but a rescue was unlikely until the more capable full-service cruiser caught up with them.
He nodded grimly. “How long before they make contact?”
“We should have a report by dawn.”
Darios glanced out the window at the moonless sky still black as pitch.
“Rest while you can,” Cogar urged. “I’ll come get you if there is more news before morning.”
He nodded, but doubted he could follow his second’s advice.
Slipping back into bed with her, he rolled to his side and came up on an elbow, staring down at her delicate beauty in the darkness. Never had something he wanted so badly been within his reach but so far away. If the Aeldorians were responsible for this attack, it would very likely mean the end of their truce, the escalation of violence, and another war. What did that mean for a future with his princess?
Even as he wondered how they could possibly work, he determined that they would—whatever it took. He’d never experienced such fiery passion and charming innocence in one woman before, and he’d had his share. Considering her people were known to be cold and distant, he was stunned and elated at her response.
But their attraction went beyond sex, and involved something deeper.
Unable to resist, he caressed her cheek, brushing back loose tendrils of her silken hair and tucking them behind her ear. Careful not to wake her, he bent his head and kissed her temple.
His heart had ached tonight when he’d come into her room and found her terrorized by a nightmare. And when he’d taken her in his arms and she sobbed helplessly, he could think only of protecting her from anything that might hurt her ever again. She’d clung to him, needing his strength, the warmth and comfort of his touch, and their connection. He couldn’t imagine how isolating her life had been without something so basic.
With his lips lightly brushing her soft skin, he breathed in her sweet scent and vowed she’d never have to again.
Chapter Nine
AURELIA AWOKE ALONE in the big bed the next morning. She ran her hand over the mussed covers and indented pillow beside her. Both were cold, which meant Da
rios had been gone for a while and had slept much less than her.
During the night, she’d woken twice to find him staring at the ceiling. He hadn’t been restless, instead contemplating answers to whatever was bothering him in the ceiling that couldn’t give them to him. Conversely, when she’d slept, it had been soundly, a testament to her warlord’s skill in things aside from commanding an army and ruling a planet.
The last time her eyes fluttered open, he’d been leaving the bed and the room had still been dark.
“Go back to sleep,” he’d murmured as he rolled back and kissed her, first on the lips, and then on her forehead. “It’s a while yet before morning.”
Now, as she lay there shaking off the remnants of sleep, images from the night before rapidly flooded her consciousness. If she weren’t lying in his bed, her body sore in places she didn’t realize existed, she would have thought it all a dream. Not the first part, which centered around the terrible vision of the red devil—she’d rather block that out of her mind forever. But she never would forget how he held her afterward, rocking her gently, and then brought her to his room. Or the way he handled her with such care and consideration, it stirred her deeply and melted any lingering reservations she had about the big, strong, powerful warlord.
That her ability was ineffective on him still surprised her. The only other people she’d been unable to read in her lifetime were her mother, and her twin. Even her father’s emotions were too much to take. That she could touch Darios freely made him more attractive to her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had the nerve to initiate what happened afterward.
With her emotions raw and fragile after her ordeal, and the nightmare stirring up those feelings anew, she wanted to erase everything, if only for a time, and replace them with new, positive memories, and what better way than to be with the man who had rescued her, who she could be close to without her ability coming between them. She wanted to feel his hands on her and be with him in a way she’d never been with any man before.
Aurelia smiled as she recalled his sensual caresses and his breathtaking kisses, especially the extra-naughty ones. She hadn’t ever imagined a man would kiss her there, or that sex could rob her of her senses in such a way. Was it the connection he spoke of that made her act so boldly, become giddy from his touch, and cry out as she lost control, or his incredibly hard, thick, decidedly long part. She hoped it would be repeated soon, beyond the three times he’d already taken her, so she could decide—she could consider it research.
Grinning, she rolled out of bed, but that’s as far as she got because her muscles cried out in protest. Well...maybe not too soon.
She groaned, and, moving more gingerly, made her way to the bathing room.
After a long soak in a hot tub, she put on the ivory dress someone had thoughtfully left in the outer room of Darios’ suite. She didn’t want to think about what others would think of her after spending the very first night in his room. For the moment, something other than a sullied reputation and sore muscles had taken priority in her mind—her growling stomach.
Aurelia stood in front of the tall bank of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at the city bustling with activity. Without a clock anywhere, she had to guess at the time. The sun having risen high in the sky meant it was nearing midday and the morning meal long since passed. Her exhaustive search of his chambers hadn’t realized a single scrap of food anywhere. Figuring he was too busy dealing with his lost ship and crew as he should be—to worry about her breakfast, she decided to venture out in search of the dining room or kitchen on her own.
When she exited his chambers, the hall was strangely quiet, but when she recalled this was the family’s private wing, no one being around in the middle of the day wasn’t surprising.
She looked left then right. There were stairs at both ends of the corridor. Without any idea which would get her to her destination, she went right. The odds were even she’d chosen correctly or would run into someone to ask for directions.
As she walked, she took in the portraits lining the hall. Some were of large powerful men, each as darkly handsome as Darios, and as bare, both muscles and intricate tattoos shown off by their intimidating poses. His relatives she surmised by the resemblance, and previous overlords since they all wore the scarlet cloak. There were other paintings of beautiful women—darkly exotic at least to her fair-haired, light-eyed way of thinking—and several family portraits with the lords and their ladies surrounded by dark-haired, dark-eyed, attractive children, and quite a few of them, too. She stopped in front of one very large family depiction and counted eight.
Holy stars! She couldn’t fathom eight children. The most an Aeldorian couple had were two.
She continued on, amazed how disparate his world was to hers despite their similar origins. Even his home looked and felt different. Her father’s castle like everything on Aeldor was designed for function. Her people believed in practicality and expedience, rather than aesthetics and comfort. Of course, they had rugs and wall coverings, the cold necessitated it, but portraits and sculptures were at a minimum.
As imposing as Darios’ citadel appeared from the sky, she’d assumed the inside would be the same, but it was warm, not in the heat sense, and welcoming.
Although one wouldn’t expect that of a stone edifice, it was made to feel homey and cheerful by the elegant though cheery tapestries on the walls, the varied artwork in practically every available space, and thankfully—since the thoughtful person who’d brought her gown hadn’t remembered shoes—plush rugs running the length of the halls and molded to the hard, stone steps.
After descending two flights, making several turns, hitting a few dead ends, and retracing her steps, only to find more twists and sharp corners, Aurelia had to concede she was lost.
Standing in the middle of a long corridor that looked like all the others, she hated to keep guessing because in her experience that strategy got her nowhere fast. Her options were to remain here until someone passed by, or to keep going.
Considering in all the time she’d been wandering, she hadn’t encountered anyone, she chose the latter expecting that surely, if she kept going, she’d run into someone eventually.
Down another flight of stairs, the natural light gave way to wall-mounted sconces, and she noticed a damp, musty smell. She stopped, bending her knees to see past the next landing, uncertain if she wanted to continue. The temperature felt the tiniest bit cooler, which on Voltarre probably wasn’t the right term because it was still hot, but the air had grown still and heavy.
With the humidity high, Aurelia began to sweat. Not finding that at all appealing, she summoned a little blast of cool air. Expecting it to last only briefly and dissipate, she was surprised when it kept swirling around her.
Her abilities hadn’t been the same since leaving Aeldor. Rather, she corrected herself, since Ryker had used the vibrating device on her when he’d taken her. They either didn’t work how she expected, or were too much, or not at all. Waking in Darios’ arms to a bedchamber encased in ice had been alarming. Had he permanently damaged her powers, or was this something else?
“Drat it all!” she muttered, adding yet another worry to the heaped-high helping on her already-full plate.
Not expecting the kitchens to be underground, Aurelia decided to go back and try a different route, but voices drifted up from the level below. She halted, listening for a moment. The echoed words were difficult to make out, but it was the first sign of people she’d encountered since leaving his rooms. She followed the sounds down to the next landing where she paused and took a quick peek down the adjacent hall.
Two men leaned against the stone wall by a set of metal doors. They were soldiers, she could tell because they wore the same skimpy breechcloth as Darios with similar inked markings adorning their skin, although both had far less than he did. One soldier, who appeared younger than her by several winters, only had a few swirling designs around his biceps. Instead of a cape, they each had leather straps cri
sscrossing their chests and a wide belt around their waist from which hung a blade sheath and a holstered weapon of some kind.
They appeared to be standing guard, but of what, or whom?
At a muffled shout from behind the set of double doors, both men became instantly alert and withdrew their weapons that Aurelia recognized as high-velocity fusion pistols. They exchanged a glance then spun. One hauled the door open while the other darted inside then the second quickly followed.
Her interest piqued, Aurelia reminded herself this wasn’t Aeldor, and she shouldn’t venture anywhere uninvited. But used to having the freedom to go just about anywhere and do almost anything without asking for permission, her curiosity got the best of her. With her empty stomach long forgotten, she moved down the hall to see what was going on.
Not bold enough to go barging in, she decided to take a quick peek first. The windows were high and almost out of reach. By standing on tiptoe, she could see inside, but had to strain to do so.
She counted four holding cells with cots. They didn’t have bars, but she could tell by the glowing blue rings on either side of the openings they were equipped with security shields. If the technology was the same as back home, once activated, if the prisoner came in contact with the force field they’d receive a shock. If they tried to pass through, the voltage would be enough to incapacitate them.
The three cells she could see were unoccupied. The last one on the far left held someone. She couldn’t see inside, but the six half-dressed, tattooed Voltarreans gathered outside looking in made it obvious.
She strained trying to hear what the commotion was about, but the sounds were muffled.
The group of observers parted suddenly, and a man dressed all in white emerged, his tunic and trousers identical to what she’d worn in the medical unit on the Atagan, except for the blue and white shield—a universal symbol for a healer—stamped on the sleeve.
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